


Named for a Flower

by Raufnir



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Chocobos, Fluff, M/M, Moogle Chocobo Carnival, No Smut, a chocobo named Daffodil, coz there's lots of it, get that boy a chocobo plushie, gladio's arms are a gift from the six, hope you're not allergic to fluff, much fluff, prompto is adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 04:01:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10481616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raufnir/pseuds/Raufnir
Summary: Prompto and Gladio split from Noct and Ignis at the Moogle Chocobo Carnival, and Gladio wins Prompto a giant chocobo plushie. Just for fluffs.Originally posted on my tumblr (@expectogladiolus)





	

Flags and banners fluttered in the sunshine, the salty scent of the sea mingling with the sweetness of candy floss and other carnival food. Giant blow-up moogles and chocobos adorned the gantries, and people wearing all sorts of goofy hats tended stalls.  

Noctis dug Ignis in the ribs and the advisor frowned. "Highness?" He knew that crowds made the prince uncomfortable but he didn't look too distressed.  

"Fishing," he mumbled simply, his dark blue eyes locked on the dock at the end of the street.  

Ignis rolled his eyes, and Prompto groaned. "Noct, you can fish, like, anytime. How many times are we gonna be at a moogle chocobo carnival!"  

"You don't have to come and fish  _with_ me," Noctis pouted.  

Ignis eyed their own little golden chocobo's face and then looked at Gladio, who was, to Ignis' surprise, staring down at Prompto with an unusually soft expression on his rugged, scarred face. Analysing all the evidence, Ignis made his decision. "Why don't Noct and I go and fish, and perhaps, Gladio, you and Prompto could head off and enjoy yourselves." 

"You sure you don't mind?" Gladio asked, looking from Ignis to Noctis and back again. 

"Oh come on," Noctis growled. "I'm surely not awful to be around, am I?" 

"That wasn't what I meant," Gladio rumbled. "You two have fun, alright?" And he clapped Prompto around the shoulders so hard that the poor kid stumbled and Gladio had to lunge after him to stop him tripping over a gondola rope and plunging head first into the clear waters of the bay. "Sorry," he mumbled, going a little pink.  

Prompto laughed shyly and waved the other two off. Nervously bouncing on the balls of his feet as he turned back to Gladio, he mumbled, "So... What do you want to do?" 

Gladio swallowed, his Adam's apple dancing in his throat. "Whatever you want. Your choice." 

"Really?" 

The big man had to chuckle at Prompto's unquenchable enthusiasm. "Sure. You're king of the carnival today. Whatever you say, goes." 

"Oh man," he breathed. "Ok, let's go... um... this way!" And he shot off towards a couple of the stalls along the main promenade.  

He practically fell over his own boots in excitement, but managed to contain himself. Just. And then Gladio nudged him with an elbow. "Hey, shooting game... What do you say, Quicksilver?" 

"Still calling me that, eh?" Prompto grinned as they approached the shooting gallery. "Rifles aren't really my thing... too big and heavy..." 

"There's a pistol one, and a coconut shy too, crackshot." 

Prompto grinned wickedly. "Ok, fine. I challenge you." 

The little gunner, of course, bullseyed every single one of the targets as they popped up, hitting each almost before it was fully upright, and it was only because Gladio was looming over his shoulder at the end that the stall holder didn't kick up a fuss. He grudgingly handed Prompto the medallion and the kid stuffed it over his head with a look of glee, turning away from the stall and snapping a selfie with the gold medallion between his teeth.  

The look of mirth faded into wide-eyed wonder as he saw a man with a chocobo headband on and little clip-on wings on his back. He stared slack-jawed at it and then he looked at Gladio. A wicked grin developed like a photograph on film across his pretty, freckled face. 

Gladio took in the man, who clearly had no idea how absurd he looked, or didn't care, and Gladio didn't know which was more worrying. And then he cottoned on to what Prompto was thinking. "Oh hell no." 

Prompto began to giggle uncontrollably.  

"No, Prompto. No." 

"Oh gods, that would look so funny!" he squealed, tears in his eyes, doubled over. "I'm just imagining..." 

"Well stop imagining and get moving. Anyway, I've already got my wings," he said nodding down at the tattooed feathers exposed by his tank top. 

Prompto giggled like a five year old all the way along the promenade. He didn't fall quiet until the soft "kweh" of a chocobo, standing on one side of the pavement, sounded over the soft lapping of the waves against the sun-soaked stones. Prompto went perfectly still and, just when Gladio didn't think his blue eyes could get any bigger, they actually doubled in size. "Can I?" 

Gladio was helpless in the face of those eyes, and simply nodded. He wasn't going to lie, but he was also pretty happy that the little gunner was no longer picturing him with a ridiculous pair of chocobo wings.  

"Say, you look like you've been round the chocobo racetrack a few times," the attendant said, stepping forward and looking at Prompto's massive eyes as he petted the bird and talked to it in a little baby voice. "Care to give ours a once-around?" 

Prompto swallowed. And then looked up at Gladio. "Please?" he murmured in a very tiny voice.  

Gladio bit his lips together to keep from laughing and did his best to look stern. "Prompto," he said, rolling his eyes.  

"It's called Seaside Scamper!" Prompto babbled happily, pointing at the course which ran out into the bay. "Look at it! Oh. Em. Gee. Gladio _look_!" He stared wildly at the floating platforms and hoops made up of balloons.  

Shaking his head, couldn't help but laugh now. "Fine." He turned to the attendant, but before he'd got round to asking for a ticket for Prompto, the attendant cut him off.  

"Sorry big guy, but there's a weight limit on our chocobos I'm afraid. Bird Health and Safety and all that..." 

Prompto's lips parted in a gasp of astonishment. "What?" He looked at Gladio and stammered, "Oh, i-it's ok, we can do something else." 

Gladio was still laughing and he ruffled Prompto's hair fondly. He bit back a salty comment about that not being the first time he'd been told he was too big. "That's ok," he grinned. "I usually have to get Wiz to give me a special bird at the Chocobo Post anyway, so I wasn't expecting to be able to do it. I want you to have a go though." 

The racecourse itself was easy enough that a two year old could have managed it, but Prompto was so over excited that he went off course twice, missed out four hoops, went through one the wrong way, and wrapped himself up in a balloon ribbon so tightly that Gladio had to cut it off him at the end. But none of that mattered.  

Prompto was elated. With his cheeks flushed a cherry blossom pink, he fairly skipped along beside Gladio.  

"I wish you'd let me get out your camera for that," Gladio chortled.  

"I'm so glad I didn't," Prompto laughed. "I can't believe I missed that last one!" 

"Just that last one?"  

"Ok, fine, so I missed a lot of them. Bite me. I was having too much fun."  

He used some of his saved up gils to get himself an ice slushie that Ignis never would have approved of. It was probably 90% sugar. He tried to get Gladio to have one as well, but the shield declined. "So what _do_ you want then?" he whined, sucking up the freezing nectar through the yellow straw.  

If Gladio blushed at the sight, he didn't let the kid see.  

"Seriously," Prompto pushed. "We've only done stuff _I'm_ good at, or that _I_ wanna do. Next one's your choice, big guy." 

"Honestly, carnivals aren't so much my thing. I took Iris to one when we were little, but I..." 

"You what?"  

"I lost her. She had a habit of running off as a kid, and I lost her in the crowd. I get nervous now. Can't help it. Don't let me spoil your fun though," he smiled.  

His honey coloured eyes fell on a small girl who was about the same age as Iris, walking beside her father, and while Gladio may well have been replaying a memory he'd rather forget, all Prompto saw was the enormous chocobo plushie in her arms. In fact, it was so big it was almost the same size as her, and she was struggling to carry it.  

"Gladio," he said in a tone of voice which drew the shield's attention immediately.  

"What?" 

"I have to have one of those." 

He said it in such a way that left no room for doubt or debate. He said it the way you might state that humans need air to breathe, or water to live. He had to have one.  

Gladio sighed and looked around to find out where she could have got it, and when his eyes landed on the stall with them all hanging up, they actually lit up. "Well, well," he said. "If you can win one of those, I will be seriously impressed." 

"Huh?" 

He nodded and Prompto's face fell. His happy expression shattered into pieces of pure disappointment when he saw the stall they came from. "Great," he mumbled, looking like he might cry. 

Gladio smirked and tugged him over to the counter. "One ticket please," he barked at the attendant.  

The blood drained from Prompto's face and he tugged at his friend's enormous arm and gabbled, "Gladio, come on, I won't even be able to lift the mallet, let alone hit the thing hard enough to make the bell ring. Please don't embarrass me like this. It's fine. I don't need a chocobo plushie. I don't. Please." 

"You don’t?" Gladio asked, handing some loose coins from his pocket over to the guy behind the counter. "Well darn, if that isn't a shame." He leaned down and hissed in his ear, "I guess I'll just have to leave the poor bird behind when I win it anyway. You know, if you don't want it." He straightened and cooed, "Poor chocobo..." 

"You mean...?" He blinked, his expression changing to awestruck adoration as he looked up at Gladio with eyes as big and blue as the Altissian basin itself.  

Gladio swallowed. Or at least, he tried to.  

The stall attendant caught sight of him and chortled, "Nervous, big guy?"  

Prompto bit his lip and hovered as Gladio cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, his tank top showing just how strong he really was. "Try not to break it, ok?" Prompto hissed as Gladio took the mallet. And then he hung back. Like _far_  back. Way out of the potential blast radius. 

Gladio walked over to the high striker and casually swung the mallet in his hands. He took up a stance that reminded Prompto of all the times he'd watched him swing his greatsword, and nibbled his lip again. The sight sparked a sudden, fluttering heat bubbling in his chest and stomach. He sipped the remnants of his slushie just as Gladio cast him one last look.  

It was a real shiteater of a grin, and Prompto found his own face splitting into a wide smile. "Good luck, big guy!" he yelled, holding up his own medal. "Let's even the score a bit, eh?" 

And that was all it took. Gladio gave one mighty swing of the mallet, right hand starting near the top of the long handle, the other at the base, and then he chopped downwards, sliding the top hand down to meet his left at the bottom like he was sledging concrete. The puck shot up the tower too quickly for even Prompto to follow, and Gladio was rewarded with the satisfying 'ding' of the bell at the top. Prompto was amazed it hadn't shot into orbit. 

He snarled a grin of triumph at the attendant, who shrank back and laughed nervously. "Er, congrats, big guy," he jabbered. "Pick a prize then..." 

"Prom?" Gladio asked, looking over his shoulder at the kid. "Which one?" 

Prompto pointed at the one highest up, just so that Gladio would have to reach. He was going to hell for that, surely, he thought, but the shield didn’t seem to object. 

When he presented the younger boy with the chocobo, he was grinning from ear to ear. "Here ya go." 

Prompto took it with reverence, and then, unable to restrain himself, he buried his face in it with a squeal and wrapped his arms around it. "Thank you," he finally managed to squeak. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" 

"Prompto?" It was Noctis' voice calling over the crowd.  

Shortly after that came Ignis' voice. "Gladio, what is he doing with that?" 

"Yeah," Noctis laughed fondly, coming over and ruffling Prompto's hair like he was a chocobo himself. "You realise you'll have to pay extra for your friend to ride with us in the Regalia?" 

"Whatever you ask, just as long as Daffodil can come with us." 

"Daffodil?" Gladio asked with a frown. "I put all that effort into winning you a chocobo and you call it _Daffodil_?" 

"Of course! And anyway, what's wrong with being named after something _botanical_?" he giggled, poking Gladio in the abs and hurting his finger in the process. 

Gladio froze.  

"Hmmm? _Gladiolus_?" 

He rolled his amber eyes.  

Prompto only laughed harder.  

Gladio's rumbling baritone joined Prompto's high tenor, and threw his arm around Prompto's shoulders as they headed back to the hotel. He tugged him in tightly against his body for a moment, and Prompto looked up at him. His eyes were blue as the sky above, and his freckled face beamed, innocent as a sunbeam on a primrose. Gladio sighed.  

"You ok, big guy?"  

He nodded but didn’t say anything.  

Back at the hotel, Prompto's sugar high ran out and he crashed. Spectacularly. Sitting down on Noct's bed for just a moment, he felt tiredness wash over him and, clutching Daffodil to his body, he kicked his boots off and curled up, intending to rest his eyes for just a moment.  

"Hey, Gladio," Noctis said as he came out of the bathroom a while later and saw Prompto curled up on the end of his bed like a lost retriever puppy. "Can you get him off my bed? I need a nap." 

" _You_ wake him," the shield muttered from his chair without looking up from his book. "I haven't got the heart to disturb that bundle of sleeping sunshine." 

"You're too soft on him, Gladio," Ignis muttered from the chair opposite.  

Gladio eyed him and arched an eyebrow. "Coming from you? The way you are with our little princess over there?" He received a link-stare from the prince and his advisor, and laughed softly. "Fine, fine. I'll move him." 

He set down his book, bending the page down in a way that made Ignis wince audibly, and strode over to where Prompto lay, snoring softly into the chocobo plushie. He couldn't help the fond smile that stretched the scar on his cheek. Gods, that kid was adorable. He scooped him up gently and carried him over to the other bed and settling him on it.  

Prompto didn't wake, but he shivered, and Gladio frowned as he saw goosebumps rise along his bare, skinny arms. Standing beside the bed and looking around him, he found nothing to cover him with, and was about to pick him up again to slip him under the covers, when Prompto stirred and grabbed blindly at Gladio's shirt. He moaned and latched his fingers onto the fabric. "Hey now," Gladio warned softly.  

"Cold," Prompto mumbled. 

"I'm gonna wrap you up, if you'll let me, you dumb chocobo," he chuckled.  

"Wrap me up with you." 

"What?" 

Prompto shuffled backwards and rolled over to face the other way. "Gladio, 'm cold. You're a human furnace. Please?" 

He bowed his head and bit his lip. "Alright." 

The bed groaned when he climbed onto it and in a heartbeat, he slid his right arm under Prompto's head, and had enveloped the kid and the chocobo plushie in a massive embrace.  

"Better?"  

Prompto nodded and scooted back a couple of inches to close the gap up completely between their bodies. He dipped below the surface into sleep again and was silent and unusually still for a few minutes. Then, just as Gladio was thinking about letting go and following him into unconsciousness, he heard Prompto sigh. His little chest expanded, inflated, and then, as he breathed out, he whispered, "I love you, Gladio." 

The shield's heart leapt and he nuzzled into the back of Prompto's freckled neck. "Gods help me, I love you too, little chocobo."

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments gratefully received, but I'm happy you dropped by for some more Promptio fluff!  
> (*^▽^*)


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